Archive for the ‘holiday activities’ tag

December is an expensive month. Between traveling, buying food for big family meals and making sure the kids get everything they asked for from Santa, your wallet can seriously hurt by month’s end. And it doesn’t help that promotions for holiday shopping are happening earlier and earlier every year. (I’m pretty sure I saw my first Christmas commercial this year in October.) Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to enjoy the holiday season with your family without breaking the bank. Here are just a few ideas:

Check out the lights. You can walk around your own neighborhood or even drive to different neighborhoods and try to find the houses with the most lights and decorations. Or go online and find out if there are any holiday light shows nearby to walk or drive through. Some of these public shows also offer things like meet-and-greets with Santa and cups of hot chocolate!

Hit the ice! Ice skating is a fun way to burn off some of that holiday energy and a typical session allows for about two hours of skating. Admission is cheaper than the cost of a movie ticket and is even less costly for a child. If you don’t own a pair of skates, you will also have to pay for rentals. Check to see if your local rink offers a session just for children so your little ones will be safer on the ice.

Give back a little. If you have a roof over your head, food to eat and a family to love, you are more fortunate than a lot of people, so why not volunteer some of your time this season to enrich the lives of the less fortunate? Organizations all over the country are having toy drives this month and soup kitchens are always looking for help. And many allow for kid volunteers, so don’t hesitate to call up and ask! Signing up to perform random acts of kindness is rewarding and you will certainly get back even more than you give.

Do you have any other ideas for low-cost holiday fun? Please share them in the comments.

Do you spend most of the holiday season rushing around – purchasing gifts, attending events, and doing everything to make it magical and special for your kids? Well, we have a couple more weeks to change that and actually enjoy things ourselves.

I realized this year that my 1st grader could really find out the “truth” about Santa any time now. I hope he doesn’t for several more years, but I need to enjoy the fact that he does still believe now. I also realized this year that it is my youngest’s last year in preschool so the never-ending abundance of art projects and spontaneous singing of carols will start to fade as they have with my oldest.

So, this year I have decided to to really immerse myself in everything – the sparkle in their eyes when they see Santa, the magic of our Elf that mysteriously jumps around our house every night, the excitement of houses with Christmas lights, and all that other magic that appears at this time of year. I find that when events are going on I need to sit back and just watch my kids. Watch their reactions, the excitement in their eyes, and just interact with them. They can almost talk you into believing anything.

The other day my oldest asked me why Rudolph doesn’t come to our Christmas Park with the other reindeer. I had to come up with a reason, and quick. I told him that Rudolph was special and needed to stay back at the North Pole so his nose could be taken care of. My son took my quick little story and expanded it into a whole story. At the end I was believing it was true.

Its moments like that you need to just let yourself get caught up into.